


elevator (6F)

by jeolmeoniji



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Attempt at Humor, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Office gossips, Rivalry, Texting, i've never worked in an office please act like it's accurate lol, silly ways to rile up each other, they dumb but we love them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:02:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27663095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeolmeoniji/pseuds/jeolmeoniji
Summary: Things get interesting on the sixth floor of the building of Dreamwork and Sunvision companies, when their HR directors Jaemin and Donghyuck decide to organize a recruitment process.Chaos ensues when they both want to hire genius candidate Huang Renjun.Everything is, of course, unfolding before Jeno and Yangyang's eyes, the two receptionists who are never too faraway from their phones and office gossip.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Na Jaemin
Comments: 12
Kudos: 101
Collections: '00 FIC FEST ROUND TWO





	elevator (6F)

**Author's Note:**

> prompt #00270
> 
> thank you admin bom for taking care of this ficfest!

_From: Lee Jeno (Dreamwork company)_

what nail polish color is it today?

_From: Liu Yangyang (Sunvision company)_

do you really see it from your desk?

anyway it’s green today

might add some smiley faces if donghyuck doesn’t need me before two hours so it can dry properly

_From: Lee Jeno (Dreamwork company)_

dude we literally see each other’s reception desk since they decided to make the entrance walls of the floor all glass

really easy to spy on everyone and know the tea, you know that

_From: Liu Yangyang (Sunvision company)_

yeah well i still want to look a little bit professional for those visiting our company you know

_From: Lee Jeno (Dreamwork company)_

here’s a hot tip: maybe don’t do your manicure during work?

_From: Liu Yangyang (Sunvision company)_

here’s a hot reply:

no

it’s all about the thrill

will i be able to apply my second coat of color? will the glossy top coat be dry before hyuck gives me a mountain of papers to go print for?

as i said, the Thrill

_From: Lee Jeno (Dreamwork company)_

donghyuck is coming your way

_From: Liu Yangyang (Sunvision company)_

shit no smiley faces for my mani brb bye

  
  
  
  


_From: Jenono_

you know it’s clock out time and you can always work on your projects tomorrow?

_From: Nana_

and you know you could just knock at my office to tell me that?

_From: Jenono_

it’s 2020 who still has proper social interaction and talks directly to people?

_From: Nana_

that’s sad wtf

anyway just a little bit longer, i’m almost done

_From: Jenono_

don’t overwork yourself >:(

_From: Nana_

would you prefer i overwork the employees?

_From: Jenono_

no, i just want our HR director to take it a bit more easy

_From: Nana_

i’m preparing the files for our next recruitment period

it takes time

_From: Jenono_

i’m giving you an hour and then i kidnap you to go to our fav dinner place

_From: Nana_

Jeno it’s ok you can leave the company already you finished your day no one will come by the front desk

_From: Jenono_

This message has not been delivered.

_From: Nana_

you’re really not listening to me huh

_From: Jenono_

❤️

  
  
  
  


Donghyuck closed the door of his car with his elbow, his hands taken with a pile of files he’d brought to his flat the night before, and a cinnamon latte that was close to spill on the concrete of the underground parking lot. He straightened and managed to gather the stuff in his arms to be more comfortable, walking toward the elevator while sipping his first hot beverage of the day to wake him up.

Once inside the cubicle, he pressed the button _6_ , the floor of _Sunvision company_ , and put his employee card against the censor to allow access. When the doors closed, he leaned against one of the walls and enjoyed the faint sound of the machine going up.

It stopped on the ground floor to let other people enter, and Donghyuck bowed slightly out of habit before raising his head again and noticing who stepped inside.

“Good morning, Donghyuck.”

“G’morning, Jaemin.”

Jaemin pressed the button to close the door. Donghyuck saw him take a sip of his own take-out cup, obviously an iced americano with the sound of the ice cubes against the plastic of the cup. The mixture was a dangerous dark brown, even if there was obviously water in it.

“How many extra shots this time?”

“Hm? Oh, only four.”

Donghyuck grimaced, which made Jaemin chuckle.

“Old habits die hard, you know what they say,” Jaemin winked.

Donghyuck rolled his eyes. They fell silent, looking at the numbers of the floors increasing to reach theirs. When the doors opened again, they were greeted by the sun of the early morning shining through the floor entrance, surrounded by large glass walls where the offices were.

“Have a great day, Donghyuck,” Jaemin waved him goodbye, and Donghyuck did the same.

Jaemin went to the right where the plate of the company _Dreamwork_ greeted him before he opened the transparent door. Donghyuck could have a glimpse of Jeno at the reception desk, but then he took a sip of his cinnamon latte and went to the opposite direction, with a similar entrance except the name on the plate. Yangyang was already at his desk, checking his emails.

“Hey, Yangyang.”

Donghyuck put one of the folders he had in his arms on Yangyang’s desk.

“Can you do a copy of these documents? It’s for the hiring process we want to finalize soon.”

“I’m on it. Oh, by the way, I left some documents in your office regarding that.”

“Ok, I’ll check them today. See you later!”

Donghyuck took a few steps toward his office, but then he turned his head and commented:

“Nice color choice for today’s manicure, but I didn’t see that, right?”

Yangyang suppressed a yelp and quickly buried inside a drawer the nail polish bottle he’d lazily hidden behind his mug. Donghyuck chuckled and then left him alone to finally begin his day of work.

  
  
  
  
  


After a little break for a coffee, Jeno looked up the rest of his schedules for the day on his computer. He’d barely opened his calendar that Jaemin passed next to his desk and asked him:

“It’s time for me to monopolize your presence, I believe.”

And as he said, he was right; Jeno looked briefly at the _meeting with jaemin @ 2_ note, and nodded and stood up, picking up his ipad to write down whatever Jaemin needed him to do.

They went to one of the free meeting rooms to be more at ease, and casually sat next to each other with Jaemin having put his laptop and several folders that they needed to look at on the table.

“So,” Jaemin said while clasping his hands and putting his chin on it, looking straight at Jeno, “you’ve been bothering me to take care of my health more lately because I was too engrossed in our current look out for hiring new employees.”

“Sue a man for being worried for his friend’s health, I guess,” Jeno rolled his eyes, but he was more amused than anything.

“Well, I’m happy to tell you that I’ve put my final decisions on the applications we’re keeping for the first round of interviews.”

Jeno’s smile mirrored the one Jaemin arbored.

“That’s a great news!”

Jeno knew Jaemin had spent hours preparing for this, as the HR director; for such a position, he was considered pretty young, but it didn’t diminish his capacities at all. Jaemin was qualified and competent, and Dreamwork was lucky to have him. Their start-up company could only do good with someone like him taking care of the employees.

“I want you to send an email to each one of the candidates that can do the interviews. Here are their files,” Jaemin continued, patting a pile of a dozen of thin folders. “We need to choose a day for the interviews. I asked Kun and he told me that whatever day is fine by him. You have his schedules?”

Jeno looked through the synchronized calendars he had access to from a few people of the company.

“You’re both free next week on Thursday,” Jeno comments. “It gives a little bit more than a week for the applicants to prepare for their interview, I can send all the emails today so they get notified as soon as possible.”

“That’s perfect. I’ll let you do that then, and if you need anything, feel free to ask for a meeting with Kun and me. I’ll still be working on the interviews and the accommodations for each applicant, but I promise I won’t pull extra hours,” he added with a pout, knowing how Jeno would be if he continued like that.

Jeno’s eye smile illuminated his face, showing that he was glad of that decision.

They soon each got back to their desk, and Jeno notified Kun of his new schedules for the next week, before going to work on the emails. He opened the first file of the pile. Huang Renjun’s picture on the right corner of the page stared back at him, with confident eyes and dark hair styled to give a peek at his forehead. Jeno found his email address, and wrote it down on his draft, before sitting back, thinking for a few seconds of how to formulate the email, and then he typed on his keyboard again.

_“Dear Mr Huang, it is with great pleasure that…”_

  
  
  
  
  


_From: Ten_

babyyyyy

_From: Yangyang sheep sheep_

i’m not a baby

i’m 24 now

_From: Ten_

babyyyyyyy

_From: Yangyang sheep sheep_

what’s up nine plus one

_From: Ten_

oh original way to say my name

anyway

hot dude spotted in the elevator when i came to work

_From: Yangyang sheep sheep_

what??? but i didn’t see him???

_From: Ten_

i know, you weren’t at your desk when i arrived

that’s why i’m keeping you updated

we don’t want the professional gossiper of the office not to be up to date, now, do we?

_From: Yangyang sheep sheep_

aaah i probably was with donghyuck to talk about the applicants for the interviews next week

i recced my friend renjun so hyuck wanted to ask me a few questions

anyway

any name for your hot dude??

_From: Ten_

i don’t but dude is a GIANT

_From: Yangyang sheep sheep_

well at least that’s an adjective to describe him

i’ll keep my eyes open

_From: Ten_

thanks baby <3

_From: Yangyang sheep sheep_

for the millionth time five plus five i am NOT a baby >:(

_From: Ten_

ok two sheeps

  
  
  
  
  


_From: Renjunjun_

I’m having an interview today near your workplace, let’s eat lunch together when i’m finished with that?

Yangyang looked at his phone again, but after he replied _“of course”_ to Renjun’s message, the other didn’t reply for further ideas about where they could eat. Yangyang knew it wasn’t rude though, because Renjun was probably reading his notes again before his interview. They didn’t have time to have a long talk in depth lately, with how busy they both were. 

Renjun was in the middle of job hunting, and Yangyang understood that it was a stressful time, even if he knew that Renjun was a really smart guy and qualified at that. Yangyang himself was busy as he had to help Donghyuck with their own hiring process - he had spent the morning in his office with him to plan it. Renjun would also be interviewed at Sunvision, as Donghyuck and Ten, their current manager of international sales, had considered Renjun’s application really interesting.

Yangyang wondered at which company Renjun was having an interview at on this fine morning.

The answer to this question didn’t take long to be unveiled, as when Yangyang fetched his bag to go downstairs and look for a hot pot restaurant especially for Renjun, someone from the other side of the glass bay windows exited Dreamwork company. Out of habit, Yangyang stared at the person to store a few information that could always be good for gossiping with Jeno, when he gasped out of surprise.

Clumsily putting his backpack on, he rushed out of his office to end up in the shared lobby in front of the elevators, where Huang Renjun just pushed the button to call for one.

“Renjun! What are you doing here?!”

Startled, Renjun turned toward his friend, surprise and confusion painted on his face on top of the smile he had to see Yangyang sooner than he thought he would.

“I should say the same to y- oh wait, Sunvision’s office is here?”

He tiptoed to look behind Yangyang, where indeed the Sunvision company logo next to the glass door greeted every employee and visitor.

Yangyang looked at him, amused.

“Seriously, you didn’t see that when you arrived?” then he added, realizing what Renjun’s presence meant, “so the interview you had this morning was for Dreamwork?”

Renjun nodded at the same time the elevator opened its door.

“Let’s talk about it on our way to a restaurant, I am starving after all this,” Renjun offered, and he pulled Yangyang inside the machine with him.

A dozen minutes later, they were leisurely sitting in a busy restaurant for lunch hours.

“You could have told me you were literally having an interview in the company on the same floor building as the one I work at!”

Yangyang was stirring the hot pot between Renjun and him. There was no surprise in the fact that Renjun looked with enamoured eyes at the food on the table. Yangyang would make fun of him for that, but it was also heartwarming to see his friend like that, so he didn’t whine when Renjun took time to reply because he was munching on too many things at one, making himself look like a chipmunk.

“Dude, I didn’t know the exact address of Sunvision, ok?” Renjun said, before taking a sip of water. “I just remembered the neighbourhood, and I was more focused on not getting my interview’s place wrong than remembering your workplace, sorry.”

“That’s funny though, that you’re applying to both Sunvision and Dreamwork. I didn’t know they needed an international sales specialist at Dreamwork too.”

“Better for me!”

“Any start-up would be lucky to have you as an employee.”

“Yeah, I guess so, I didn’t work my ass off to sound like a Korean who happens to also speak Chinese for nothing,” Renjun raised his chin and showed a proud smile. “I honestly think the interview went well. I think they will call me back for the second one.”

“The confidence we want to see. If you end up at Dreamwork, I’ll introduce you to Jeno, he’s really cool.”

“It’s the receptionist, right?”

“Yup, we kinda do the same job, and with the way the floor is built, we can see each other from our desks, so we became close even if we’re not in the same company.”

“Everyone seems friendly,” Renjun commented.

“Oh, they are, but you haven’t seen Jaemin’s or Donghyuck’s competitiveness yet.”

Renjun munched on the tip of his chopsticks and tilted his head.

“Is that something I should be scared of?”

“I mean, not really? It really depends on what’s going on around our companies. I think it’s a game between them. With the way both Sunvision and Dreamwork are start-ups and we share the same field of work, it’s expected from the employees to feel a little bit of healthy tension. The CEOs apparently don’t really care about it, but it’s not the same for the HR directors. I guess it’s because they interact with the employees more.”

Renjun listened to Yangyang, nodding here and there while eating his hot pot.

“It’s funny, now that I think of it,” Yangyang adds, “the companies are both recruiting right now, but not Jeno nor I did hear a single thing happening between Jaemin and Donghyuck. Guess they were too busy each taking care of the hiring preparations that they forgot to make it a competition between them,” he laughed.

Renjun chuckled. Two HR directors being in a competition between their companies for a hiring process, that sounded a bit silly, right?

(Oh boy if only he knew.)

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The morning had been a bit busy for Jeno, but even more for Jaemin and Kun. Jeno had to welcome the applicants, three of them arriving around every hour with the way the interviews had been scheduled, and he had also to walk them back to the entrance and thank them for their time.

As their company was a start-up, this first round of hiring was really important and that was why it looked surprisingly intense. Jeno was conscious that they were doing well and that expanding their staff was a great thing to continue growing.

Every applicant’s face mingled with each other in Jeno’s mind and it wasn’t really his forte to remember who was who, but one of them stuck to his brain a little bit better as he was chinese juste like Kun, their international sales manager at Dreamwork. Huang Renjun was as good-looking in his picture as in real life. He should talk about it with Yangyang - hot dude spotted. It was always the same faces they saw around on their floor and in the building, so it would become an actual event if someone handsome coming occasionally to the companies would show up.

Talking about Renjun - he exited the room where the interviews were held, shaking Jaemin’s hand one last time before following the corridor and ending up in front of Jeno’s desk.

“Let me lead you to the door,” Jeno said with a smile, already standing up as it was the protocol.

“It’s okay, thank you for looking after me,” Renjun replied with a bow. “I hope I’ll be able to come again for the second interview,” he added with a raised eyebrow that would look really cocky on anyone but was endearing on him.

“Have a safe way back then!”

“Thank you, have a nice day.”

Jeno looked at him open the door and go to the elevators in the lobby. Out of habit, he also took a peek at Sunvision’s entrance, only to see Yangyang rush out of it with his backpack precariously thrown over one of his shoulders.

“Renjun! What are you doing here?!” Yangyang exclaimed loud enough for Jeno to hear it too.

The first thought Jeno had was that he wouldn’t have to tell Yangyang about that handsome guy that applied to Dreamwork, because Yangyang obviously knew him already.

What a small world, right?

Jeno made a mental note to ask Yangyang for more information if he ever found work a little bit too uneventful and wanted to distract himself.

A few hours later, Jeno bid goodbye to the last applicant, and when he turned back after closing the door, Jaemin was leaning against the entrance desk with a coffee in his hands. He looked a bit tired, but overall pretty pleased.

“Finally over,” Jeno commented. He patted Jaemin’s shoulder.

“It was really interesting to lead the interviews and see all of the candidates,” Jaemin hummed.

“Anyone sticking out?”

“A few. Kun was especially thrilled by another fellow chinese, Huang Renjun.”

It came almost with no surprise that the name of Huang Renjun came out again in the conversation.

“When he left, I saw Yangyang - you know, Sunvision’s receptionist - greeting him in the lobby. Apparently, they are friends,” Jeno commented.

“Really? What a small world.”

They stayed in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, until Jaemin finished his last sip of coffee and disposed of the cup.

“We’re already well into the day, what are you planning for the few hours left?” Jeno asked.

“Guess,” Jaemin chuckled, and Jeno rolled his eyes.

“You can take it easy though,” Jeno huffed.

“We’ll see if it’s possible one day. I’ll go back to my office now!”

He waved at Jeno, and Jeno returned the gesture.

  
  
  
  
  
  


_From: Duckie Hyuck_

you out for lunch?

_From: Yangyang_

yes with my friend renjun

btw renjun applied to dreamwork too haha that’s crazy

he was at their interview this morning

_From: Duckie Hyuck_

oh i see

interesting… :]

hm hm

enjoy your lunch break!

_From: Yangyang_

thanks!

wait

are YOU taking your lunch break?

_From: Duckie Hyuck_

haha what

of course i am

_From: Yangyang_

pics or it never happened

_From: Duckie Hyuck_

my phone camera broke after i took a selfie

i’m too handsome it didn’t handle my beauty

_From: Yangyang_

GDI LEE DONGHYUCK GO EAT SOMETHING

_From: Duckie Hyuck_

eating doesn’t pay the bills

_From: Yangyang_

you idiot you work enough to afford eating

_From: Duckie Hyuck_

the well being of Sunvision is my food <3

_From: Yangyang_

i can’t believe the person you are

_From: Duckie Hyuck_

i know i am so wonderful it’s hard to visualize the whole awesome picture

_From: Yangyang_

nevermind go starve idc

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


If Jeno and Yangyang were still at the company that late, they wouldn’t be shocked to see that both Jaemin and Donghyuck pulled, once again, more hours without even realizing it. The two young HR directors found themselves in the lobby of their floor as the last ones to leave at the same time.

“I heard it was the day of the first round of interviews for your hiring process?” Donghyuck casually asked Jaemin after he pressed the elevator button.

Jaemin hummed, bouncing on his heels a little bit.

“It went well. Many good profiles that seem promising.”

“Yangyang told me there is his friend who applied to Dreamwork as well as Sunvision.”

Jaemin noticed how Donghyuck tried hard to sound casual, but he wasn’t a fool. Years of knowing him, how he worked, his expressions and fixations - this comment wasn’t out of the blue at all.

“I think it is Huang Renjun?” Jaemin replied, waiting to see where Donghyuck was going with that conversation.

Donghyuck nodded, his glasses sliding a little bit down his nose. He didn’t say anything right away as the elevator doors opened and they entered the cubicle. Without Jaemin needing to ask, Donghyuck pressed the ground floor button, as well as the underground garage one.

“Was he any good?”

“One of the best, if not the best. His skills are impressive so far,” Jaemin answered. He thought he knew where Donghyuck was going with this type of questions.

“Interesting. His application really caught our eyes at Sunvision, too, so… I think we’ll be especially attentive for his interview.”

That was a typical provocation from Donghyuck, and Jaemin wasn’t surprised that he told him so casually. It came with years of having to deal with his shenanigans, even after university - and it hadn’t even been planned that they would end up working in rival start-up companies sharing the same building, the same _floor_. Life just threw them at each other in every possible situation, and sometimes they even were the ones initiating these rivalries just for the sake of it.

“Is that a declaration of war, Donghyuck?” Jaemin asked with a sickening sweet smile and a competitive fire newly burning in his eyes.

“What are you even saying?” Donghyuck faked a surprised and genuinely confused pout.

“You might be missing our time at university, I see.”

“Don’t you miss losing against me?”

“As if I ever lost to you,” Jaemin scoffed.

They looked at each other and it felt like they were back at university, in a lecture hall of one of their mutual classes, trying to establish dominance and to intimidate each other because their whole purpose in their major was to apparently always beat the other to prove whatever it was supposed to prove.

The elevator chimed and opened its door when it arrived on the ground floor. Jaemin waved at Donghyuck and when he exited the cubicle, Donghyuck told him:

“You are already behind anyway, and I believe it’ll stay that way.”

The last thing Jaemin saw was Donghyuck’s smirk before the doors closed.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_From: Liu Yangyang (Sunvision company)_

just a thought

we should have access to what’s going on in the elevators

_From: Lee Jeno (Dreamwork company)_

hm is that time for kink reveals?

not that i’m shaming but it’s literally 9 in the morning

a bit early and too sober for this kind of convo tbh

_From: Liu Yangyang (Sunvision company)_

NOT WHAT I MEANT JENO

_From: Lee Jeno (Dreamwork company)_

well SORRY

_From: Liu Yangyang (Sunvision company)_

it’s just that we have a perfect view on our whole floor and both companies thanks to these (god bless) glass walls

but once people enter the elevators, we get denied so many interactions and conversations

_From: Lee Jeno (Dreamwork company)_

you think what happens in here is crucial for our gossiping time?

_From: Liu Yangyang (Sunvision company)_

if we actually knew i bet it would

but alas, no way to know

_From: Lee Jeno (Dreamwork company)_

interesting thoughts indeed

wow donghyuck seems fueled with energy today

oh i guess you won’t reply to me anymore this morning with the way he dragged you to his office

please survive

  
  
  
  
  
  


Yangyang looked at Donghyuck with a careful stare, trying to process what his superior had just told him.

“I’m not sure I’m getting the point,” he carefully opened his mouth, “you want me to tell you details about Renjun?”

“That’s right,” Donghyuck replied.

Yangyang shifted on his feet.

“Hm, you know, I know he’s my friend and all but like, do you want to date him or something? Even if he applied to Sunv-”

“Oh my god, don’t be silly, why would I want to date him?”

Yangyang didn’t know if he should be offended for Renjun’s sake.

“I mean, you just asked me details about him? That aren’t relevant to his job application?”

“It is related to his application though.”

Yangyang sighed and put his hand in front of him, “then you need to tell me what plan you have in mind because I’m not following where you want to go there.”

“That’s simple. Your friend Renjun applied to Dreamwork as well, and last night we talked a bit about it with Jaemin when we left work. Renjun seems really promising, and Jaemin confirmed me this. That means we _can’t_ lose.”

“If you mind me asking a dumb question again, lose what actually?”

“Renjun, of course! If after the interviews he accepts Dreamwork’s offer instead of Sunvision’s, Jaemin will rub this victory into my face until we’ll _die_.”

“That’s a bit exaggerated-”

“So I need you to tell me things about Renjun that Jaemin doesn’t know so we can make Renjun prefer Sunvision and assure ourselves the victory.”

Yangyang had actually the urge to laugh at Donghyuck’s words and how he looked at that moment; Donghyuck was a really talented, serious and hardworking HR director, which was even more impressive due to his young age, but right now, with this burning stare full of challenge and commitment to destroy Jaemin in that silly game they put in place between them, Yangyang could only see the absurdity of the situation.

But as absurd as it was, Donghyuck and Jaemin’s competitiveness was something extremely funny to watch and to talk about with Jeno and the other employees.

“So you’re seriously going to have a huge favoritism with Renjun and ignore the other applicants’ hard work?”

“Don’t put it like that. I’m still gonna continue with the process and hear everyone out. It’s just that I already had my eyes on Renjun so it doesn’t really change anything.”

Yangyang bit his tongue and didn’t tell Donghyuck that any form of favoritism like what Donghyuck wanted to subtly put into actions was something that Renjun despised a lot, as he was all about being fair and didn’t like being treated differently just because he happened to be a foreigner here in South Korea, or because he was good-looking, or all this kind of things. He wanted to be recognized for his hard work, and it wasn’t that Sunvision didn’t recognize it, but more that Donghyuck now had his mind on something else than solely the interviews.

Interesting days to come, that was for sure, and that Yangyang was excited for.

“So about what Renjun likes?” Donghyuck wasn’t letting go.

Yangyang chuckled and thought of what he could say.

  
  
  
  
  
  


_From: Yangyang_

when do you start work tmr?

_From: Jeno_

9

why?

_From: Yangyang_

come at 8

_From: Jeno_

hm no?

_From: Yangyang_

what if i tell you that i have the company’s card

and that i can use it to buy us a huge breakfast at that fancy coffee shop near the office?

_From: Jeno_

fuck

the one with the adorable samoyed? and the crazy delicious waffles?

_From: Yangyang_

that one

_From: Jeno_

i’d even come at 7

but why would they give you the company’s card for that?

_From: Yangyang_

donghyuck gave it to me to buy drink and pastries for the applicants coming for the interviews we’ll have

and he told me i can get myself something too

it would be a crime not to honor his request

_From: Jeno_

i’m not sure he meant for you to get their fancy breakfast and to invite a friend too

but who am i to refuse your invitation

_From: Yangyang_

we’re the backbones of our companies

we deserve to be treated right too

so, 8 tomorrow morning so we can enjoy a ~gargantuan~ breakfast?

and then i’ll order coffees and like croissants and muffins for donghyuck’s request

_From: Jeno_

magnificent

i’ll be there, ready to fill my tummy with delicate food

  
  
  
  
  
  


Donghyuck stood proudly in the middle of the waiting room prepared for the applicants. Yangyang had just come back from the coffee shop with a box full of pastries that had been put in the middle of the table with a stack of napkins. Regarding the coffees, it was obvious they couldn’t keep the cups warm for the whole morning, so instead, Yangyang had brought the drip coffee packets that were easy to use and better than the instant cheap coffee that Ten insisted on getting for their company kitchen. Black and caffeinated it was, but the flavor wasn’t _it_.

Donghyuck couldn’t ramble as long as Jaemin could when the attention was on coffee; that morning too he probably went to buy his death awakening iced americano, something that didn’t change since university. And with the amount of time they actually spent together when they were still chaotic students looking for internships and extrapoints, Donghyuck knew what he was talking about.

If Yangyang could listen to his thoughts, he would say that both Donghyuck and Jaemin were still chaotic. And also that Donghyuck being so obsessed with Jaemin’s coffee addiction was a bit if not a lot suspicious.

Donghyuck’s attention wasn’t on the coffee though. It was on the fancy tea that Yangyang chose too; the tea that would be exclusively served to Renjun, because Yangyang said Renjun hated coffee and prefered himself a good old tea, preferably one that reminded him of China.

And in Donghyuck’s logic, it went like this: to favor Renjun and make him like Sunvision more, get him an expensive good tea to take before his interview. Clearly, a bait that wanted to look subtle except it was everything but. At least Yangyang hid his laugh not to vex Donghyuck too much. It _was_ a good idea, but it still was a bit ridiculous when you knew it was to rile Jaemin up.

“Weird mating process,” Yangyang murmured after he switched the electric kettle on so the first applicants would have hot water to make their coffee.

And the interviews went well; Yangyang welcomed each candidate, led them to the waiting room, invited them to have a pastry and a coffee, and let Donghyuck and Ten take charge of the rest.

When Renjun arrived at his designated hour, Yangyang tried to stay professional but the winks he made could even be seen through the glass walls by Jeno all the way from Dreamwork.

“Please help yourself to whatever you’re craving right now,” Yangyang said with a theatrical movement of the hand toward the table.

Renjun eyed the drip coffee packets and said:

“Sunvision prepared fancy stuff, I see. You know I don’t like coffee, but I’ll have a muffin, I guess.”

“Haaa, that’s where you’re gonna be impressed,” Yangyang exclaimed while raising his eyebrows repeatedly. “Our sweet, sweet HR director Lee Donghyuck prepared something special, and it is,” Yangyang gripped the single expensive tea packet specifically reserved for Renjun, “chinese tea, for the one and only Huang Renjun who doesn’t like coffee unlike Na Jaemin from Dreamwork.”

Renjun stayed silent for a few seconds, a bit surprised, but accepted the packet Yangyang held him out. There was something going on that he wasn’t sure he was catching on yet, that made Yangyang really amused for sure.

“Thank you, that is thoughtful of Sunvision?”

He took a mug and filled it with water while waiting for his cue to go to the interview room. The waiting room was empty except for Yangyang and him, so they chatted idly for a little while, until the door opened and Donghyuck appeared, bidding goodbye to the candidate he was interviewing who left right after.

When Donghyuck’s eyes stopped on Renjun, his smile doubled and he enthusiastically greeted him, raising his arms as if Renjun was the man of the day.

And apparently he was, for Donghyuck.

“Nice to meet you! Huang Renjun, is that it?”

Renjun was about to open his mouth to reply but Donghyuck gripped his hand and shook it with such eagerness that Renjun eyed Yangyang with confusion written all over his face. Yangyang shrugged and mouthed _don’t worry about it_ , before telling him _good luck!_ and leaving the both of them.

“How was the tea? Is the tea good? Jasmine tea, your favorite, am I right?”

At that moment, Renjun decided to just nod politely at any comment Donghyuck threw his way.

(Yangyang took his job very seriously, so of course he didn’t leave _leave_ Renjun at Donghyuck’s mercy, no. It was too good to ignore, _and_ he had Jeno to keep updated, so when he passed the corner of the corridor with the waiting room behind him, he camped right there, out of sight but focused on listening with eagerness at Donghyuck going a bit nuts in the presence of Huang Renjun.

But what wouldn’t you do for the delight of proudly showing you were ahead of your friendly hot rival in a competition that was nothing remotely official and slightly unprofessional, right?)

  
  
  
  
  
  


Donghyuck was delighted by the interview he’d just done in company of Ten for Renjun. Even if it was Yangyang who gave Renjun’s resume, Donghyuck would have taken interest in it, as Renjun was obviously fluent in both chinese and korean and it wasn’t just for show that he’d written it in his resume. He understood better what Jaemin meant, and why Renjun would be nice to have as an employee in Dreamwork. But, too bad for Jaemin, Donghyuck wanted Renjun for Sunvision, and he _would_ get him. Renjun could pass both required interviews in the blink of an eye.

“Thank you for your time today,” Ten told Renjun, and he shook his hand.

“Let me guide you to the elevators,” Donghyuck exclaimed, jumping out of his chair and designating the door.

Renjun showed him once again this expression of half confusion and half acceptance, and nodded, gathering his jacket and bag before following Donghyuck in the corridor.

“How long have you known Yangyang?” Donghyuck asked.

“We met at university here.”

“Oh, so it’s like me and Jaemin - Na Jaemin is Dreamwork’s HR director, you’ve done an interview there, am I right?”

“Ah, yes. You seem to know a lot.”

“It’s nothing much, really.”

When they passed Yangyang’s reception desk, they greeted him, and Donghyuck opened the door for Renjun, following him. He was about to ask him how he liked Sunvision so far, when an obnoxious voice that he knew too well resonated in the lobby.

“Who do I see? Lee Donghyuck and Huang Renjun? What a coincidence!”

(At that moment, Jeno sent a message to Yangyang, both of them eagerly watching the scene unfolding between the two companies. _Of course it’s no coincidence at all,_ Yangyang read on his phone screen opened on his conversation with Jeno, _Jaemin has been camping in front of my desk for the past hour to jump on renjun the second he exits Sunvision._ )

“Jaemin,” Donghyuck gritted between his teeth.

“How are you, Renjun? Being interviewed at a rival company? That’s a bold move,” Jaemin joked, shoving his elbow in Renjun’s ribs as an amical gesture. (If you asked Renjun, it was more weird than anything else.)

“Well, I’m trying all the opportunities I see, and I’m doing fine so far, if I can say so myself.”

“Yeah, Renjun has impressed us a lot at Sunvision, and he seems to like our team,” Donghyuck intervened.

Jaemin barely paid attention to Donghyuck, instead staring at Renjun with his usual intense stare and megawatt smile that riled Donghyuck up because who the fuck would smile so brightly? It was creepy to have a smile like Jaemin’s.

“Have you seen your emails this morning, Renjun?” Jaemin asked with a voice almost as syrupy as honey - Donghyuck found Jaemin’s voice too _sticky_.

“To be frank, not yet, as I’ve been focused on Sunvision’s interview-”

“Oh, so let me announce the good news then!”

Jaemin clapped his hands together, barely listening. He eyed Donghyuck, and in his eyes there was this mischievous glint that he was about to do something that would annoy Donghyuck. Donghyuck _knew_ it. He’d spent enough time looking at Jaemin to know his ways.

“You’ve passed our first interview at Dreamwork, and you’ve been invited to do the second round! Isn’t that exciting?”

Renjun genuinely looked surprised and proud of himself to hear that news; a pretty smile stretched his lips that until then were in a straight simple careful line. Donghyuck internally fumed that Jaemin chose that moment to tell Renjun that, right after his interview at Sunvision; it shifted Renjun’s thoughts on something else than Sunvision, and Jaemin knew it and had obviously no remorse doing it.

“Thank you for believing in me,” Renjun bowed.

“You should only thank yourself and the hard work you’re putting in your skills and career.”

Donghyuck looked at the both of them, feeling completely invisible, and that wouldn’t do. So, out of spite, he cleared his throat loudly and exclaimed:

“Well, Renjun, at Dreamwork we don’t need as much time as Sunvision to make our decision, and I’m telling you already that you’ve passed this morning’s interview and we will be delighted to see you for the second one as well!”

Renjun was once again between confusion and surprise, his eyes widening while looking back at Donghyuck. Donghyuck smiled brightly at him, trying to convey warmth in his expression, but for a split second he glared at Jaemin who was still smiling sickeningly sweet but he’d managed to deem the expression of victory he was arboring. _Ah, take that, Jaemin. We are two to play this game._

“Wow, I’m really grateful,” Renjun said, still a bit taken aback.

“Yangyang will send you shortly the email to give you all the necessary information.”

“Don’t forget to reply to Jeno’s email for Dreamwork,” Jaemin cut him.

Donghyuck glared at Jaemin and Jaemin glared back. For a few seconds, they looked at each other with defiance. In the middle, Renjun looked from one HR director to another, trying to assess the situation.

“I’ll be sure to check both emails,” Renjun finally said when the two others didn’t seem to have anything else to say except maybe to each other and not to him. It snapped them back to reality. “Thank you again for the opportunities. I’ll be going now, I think.” He gestured toward the elevators.

“Have a safe way back,” Donghyuck replied, “and see you soon!”

“See you sooner, Renjun,” Jaemin added, and Donghyuck hid a pinched pout really badly.

Renjun bowed at them, and called the elevator, the doors opening right away. He entered and bowed one last time before it closed on him.

Once out of sight, Donghyuck let out an exasperated sigh, and frowned at Jaemin without restriction.

“You had to do this, huh?”

“What do you mean?” Jaemin asked innocently.

Donghyuck almost ripped off his glasses, annoyed.

“Well, if you think you have the upper hand, think again. Renjun’s friend works at Sunvision, Renjun would obviously favor a workplace where he has people he likes by his side, wouldn’t he?”

“You seem to rely on Yangyang a lot, what does it feel like to not be independant and certain of your own worth to need others’ help?”

“I take advantage of all the things offered to me, that’s not the same,” Donghyuck spat out at Jaemin’s smirking face. “You’re being too confident and petty for someone losing.”

“Petty, me?” Jaemin laughed. “Look who’s talking, sweetheart.”

“We’re back on the pet names, _honey_?”

“Oh, you seem to like it, I was just pleasing the plebian.”

“You’re so unprofessional.”

“And you’re so scared of losing.”

Donghyuck let out a dry chuckle.

“I am losing: losing my time trying to talk with you. If you’re not making more sense, I’ll go back to work, unlike you. Bye Jaemin.”

“Don’t miss me too much, Hyuck.”

“Do not call me that.”

“Ok, I’ll go back to the _sweetheart_ then.”

“Perfect, _honey_.”

Donghyuck turned his back and left without one last glance.

  
  
  
  
  
  


_From: Yangyang_

you know last time i checked the job description of your job

_From: Duckie Hyuck_

random but ok

and what did you find?

did they use my picture as an example of a really good HR director?

_From: Yangyang_

unfortunately no

they used jaemin’s picture instead

_From: Duckie Hyuck_

haha you’re so funny yangyang

i fired people for less than that

_From: Yangyang_

you’ve never fired anyone

and yes i’m real funny thank you

_From: Duckie Hyuck_

ok but i still don’t know why you looked up the requirements for my job?

like do you wanna take over me and create chaos or?

_From: Yangyang_

ah shit you found my evil plan

well actually

i just wanted to highlight a passage that made me laugh

_From: Duckie Hyuck_

laugh?

_From: Yangyang_

“The HR director is responsible for the quality of the social environment in the company. The management of individual and collective conflicts is also a big part of his work.”

_From: Duckie Hyuck_

may i ask what’s funny in that

_From: Yangyang_

management of individual conflicts?

you can’t even take care of whatever’s going on between jaemin and you

it’s so funny to see you both bickering for any reason

it’s even more obvious with renjun’s case now

jaemin and you are such children yet you both hold such a responsible position i can’t help but find the contrast funny tbh

not that you don’t do your job well

but when it’s related to jaemin you just go f e r a l and lose a few brain cells

_From: Duckie Hyuck_

excuse me???

_From: Yangyang_

come on now don’t deny it

the show you put on yesterday for the interview, and the way jaemin went out of his way too to catch renjun’s attention and annoy you?

priceless

with jeno we wondered if we should order popcorn for the next time

_From: Duckie Hyuck_

you’re not paid for this yangyang??

and it wasn’t a show we were being professional!

well at least i was!

jaemin is just an idiot as always but we been knew

_From: Yangyang_

oh ok idiot is the new word for ~that~

_From: Duckie Hyuck_

~that~? what do you mean?

what new word?

yangyang reply

YANGYANG WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY THAT

  
  
  
  
  
  


_From: Renjunjun_

karaoke tonight @ 9?

_From: Yang_

BUTCH IM IN

yo can i drag jeno too??

dreamwork’s receptionist remember

you’ll like him he’s fun

_From: Renjunjun_

sure!

never too many to have fun

i need to let out some stress by singing and drinking lol

_From: Yang_

understandable

WE’LL PARTY ALL NIGHT BABYYYYY

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Jaemin didn’t expect to get a call from Jeno at past midnight. As far as he knew, Jeno was more the type to go to sleep early to then wake up early and have a run at five in the morning when any sane people would be taking advantage of the few last hours of sleep they could have. Jeno told him that he liked to run in the empty streets with the sunrise, which, okay, fair.

So why would Jeno be calling him at such a late hour?

_“Yoooooo,”_ Jeno’s voice greeted him when he picked up, slightly worried.

“Hm, Jeno?”

_“Jaeminiiiiiie!”_

“Wow, you, hm, you alright?” Jaemin straightened up on his couch, brows knitted together.

_“Never been bet-ter.”_

“Huh, good for you? What’s up?”

 _“Yo, Renjun sings Troye Sivan’s_ Fools _like a pro, oh my god. You should have heard when he said_ fuck _! A legend! Huang Renjun said fuck!”_

Jaemin’s confusion increased now that Renjun’s name was added to the conversation.

“Where are you, Jeno?”

_“At the karaoke! You should have come! It’s so funnnn!”_

“Is there a reason you’re calling me if you’re there?”

_“Ah! You’re right! I called because there’s no more buses. Can you pick me up?”_

Even without seeing him, Jaemin was certain that Jeno was making his kicked puppy face, that he usually never did at work but that Jaemin had seen a few times.

“I don’t have a car, Jeno. Can’t you take a taxi?”

 _“The karaoke is not too far from your place actually,”_ Jeno replied, sounding a bit more put together, but with this ever present whiny melody. _“But I didn’t know if I could actually crash at yours, and also I don’t want to walk alone…”_

Jaemin sighed.

“It’s okay, Jeno, I’ll come fetch you. Can you send me your location?”

Around twenty minutes later, Jaemin arrived at the karaoke; he had almost left his apartment with his slippers on, but had changed it last minute for his sneakers. He simply had a hoodie on top of his lazy sleepwear; who would see him so late in the night, anyway? He was tired and wanted to bring Jeno back quickly.

“Jaemin?”

Someone behind him called him, and he tightened his hands in his pockets. Donghyuck was exiting his car, looking a bit tired just like him; his usual suit was traded with a tracksuit, he had a bare face and his hair looked fluffy. He’d probably taken a shower before coming here.

“What are you doing here?” Jaemin asked.

“Yangyang called me to bring him back from the karaoke. What about you?”

“Ah, Jeno did the same with me.”

“You don’t have a car though?”

“Well, some people have _legs_. My flat is not that far from here.”

When Donghyuck walked to be next to him, in the empty dark street that was illuminated only by the attention-grabbing colorful signs of the karaoke, Jaemin’s breath hitched. The ugly flashy yellow light hit Donghyuck’s face in weird places, accentuating the apple of his cheeks, the tip of his button nose. It accentuated his tiredness, too, almost making him look sick. Then the color changed and it became blue, enveloping the both of them as if they were in a silent aquarium, looking at fishes with widened and surprised eyes.

Donghyuck looked colder and Jaemin wasn’t sure if he liked it. He once again tightened his fists in his pockets and cleared his throat:

“Well, I’m tired, so I’m not staying here for all eternity.”

Donghyuck shrugged his shoulders.

“You were the one frozen here as if you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I saw your face, frightening all the same,” Jaemin mumbled, but he didn’t wait for a reply and made the few last steps to enter the karaoke.

Once the door opened, there was the faint sound of several songs coming from all the booths occupied that night. Jaemin greeted the cashier and explained to him he was just here to fetch his friends. Quickly enough, he and Donghyuck were in front of the room where Jeno, Yangyang and Renjun were singing their heart out on a surprisingly sad interpretation of Girls Generation’s _Gee_.

“Time to go home, Jeno,” Jaemin presented his hand for Jeno to take.

Without surprise, he whined, but he prefered that instead of what Yangyang was doing with Donghyuck, trying to make him sing with him by jumping on his back and shoving the mic into his face, almost knocking his teeth against it.

Renjun was relatively calm next to them, and no one commented on how a little bit odd the situation was - that Renjun saw the two HR directors of the company he applied to, far away from their professional appearance.

When the five of them ended up on the sidewalk outside, Jaemin had his arm around Jeno’s waist to hold him up when he asked:

“Renjun, should we walk you home, or call a taxi? Will you be alright?”

“I can drive you,” Donghyuck intervened, and Jaemin glared at Donghyuck.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about me. I live three blocks away, I can take care of myself.”

“Let me-” both Jaemin and Donghyuck said at the same time, but they hushed with a sour wince hearing the other talk too.

Renjun looked from one to another, a funny view with each HR director with their receptionist latching on their arm. He smiled, smirked even, and shook his head no.

“You better take care of your friends right there,” he pointed at Jeno and Yangyang. “I’ll be going now. Bye!”

He turned around in the direction of his flat, while Jeno and Yangyang shouted him good night, clearly misjudging the level of their voices.

“Well, we’ll be going too. Good night, Jaemin.”

Donghyuck put Yangyang on the passenger seat of his car, and got into the driver seat. In the empty street, only the sound of the motor was heard, and when Donghyuck turned, Jaemin could make out the sharpness of his profile, eyes focused on the road. Jaemin looked for a few seconds at the car going away, until Jeno sighed loudly at his ears.

“Let’s go? I wanna sleep…”

“We’re going, we’re going.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_From: Nana_

what about flowers?

_From: Jenono_

context please

if it’s for a proposal (i believe for donghyuck) then yes i’d say flowers are a must

_From: Nana_

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK JENO

_From: Jenono_

oh did i get it wrong?

sorry :]

_From: Nana_

where do you even get that idea from?? like??

donghyuck and i kinda can’t stand each other isn’t that obvious?

_From: Jenono_

you’re calling the tension “can’t stand each other”

i’m calling it UST

_From: Nana_

Usual Spite Tendencies?

_From: Jenono_

no dumbass

have you ever read a fanfic in your life?

i’m talking about Unresolved Sexual Tension

and you know donghyuck since university so

it’s becoming quite huge

please take care of that

_From: Nana_

for the sake of your job in this company, i am ignoring those messages

you’re welcome

_From: Jenono_

you’re no fun

sigh

so what were you saying about the flowers?

_From: Nana_

for renjun

_From: Jenono_

wait are you actually into renjun too now?

i mean he’s cute but?

_From: Nana_

for fuck’s sake jeno can you please stop revolving everything around supposed romantic relationships

_From: Jenono_

awww that’s so cute you qualify your relationship with donghyuck romantic :’(

_From: Nana_

…

flowers. for renjun. just to show him we’re grateful and would like him working in dreamwork.

you know the whole winning against donghyuck plot

_From: Jenono_

ah yeah right

excuse me i renamed it “jaemin getting into donghyuck’s pants through intense rivalry” i was confused for a sec

_From: Nana_

goodbye jeno

_From: Jenono_

:D

(please do not offer renjun flowers that’s slightly creepy)

  
  
  
  
  


To Jeno’s relief, Jaemin never purchased those flowers he was talking about - or at least, not that he knew of. The day of the second round of interviews, Jaemin and Kun set everything in the afternoon, and it happened that Renjun was actually the last one to be scheduled, programmed to be finished around the time Dreamwork would close for the day, if no one pulled late hours like Jaemin did from time to time.

Jeno had finished his tasks for the day and was just waiting idly for the interview to be over so he could leave too. When Renjun had arrived earlier, they exchanged a few enjoyable words before Jaemin roped Renjun into the interview room with a speech about how perfect Dreamwork was for Renjun compared to Sunvision. Before the door closed, Jeno caught Kun’s half amused and half exasperated expression. Not that Jaemin was unprofessional (... _maybe_ a bit with Renjun) but at least Kun was there to truly assess Renjun’s competences regarding the actual work he would have to do here.

The candidate who’d been interviewed just before Renjun looked confused as well to see Jaemin’s behaviour, but Jeno had thanked him for his time and walked him to the elevator. The guy, if Jeno remembered well, was japanese and his language skills were once again something that had interested them at the company. He bowed and thanked him with a soft voice and a smile that made his eyes disappear just like it would for Jeno, which was noticeable enough to remember this little detail from his day.

The sound of the door opening brought Jeno out of his thoughts, and he heard Jaemin, Kun and Renjun wishing each other a good evening and thanking each other again for the interview. Kun excused himself first and quickly left the company, waving at Jeno before taking the elevator. Jaemin and Renjun looked like they weren’t really in a rush.

When they were in front of Jeno’s desk, Jaemin looked at him for a second before exclaiming:

“Renjun, what about going to eat something all together? It’s been a long day and I’m for sure in the mood for something nice. You in?”

Renjun, this time, didn’t seem as surprised, as if he was waiting for a move from Jaemin. He seemed more amused than anything, but not quite on the way to say yes. Jaemin didn’t lose his smile and tried to get Jeno’s attention in the most subtle way possible - which wasn’t that much, as he only quite loudly tapped the tip of his fingers on Jeno’s desk.

Jeno actually could speak the Jaemin body language, and he wanted him to convince Renjun to join them. And Jeno had the perfect argument to make Renjun accept and make Jaemin happy to have something to shove into Donghyuck’s face.

“There’s this hot pot place near here that I heard is really good. You like hot pot, right Renjun?”

It looked almost cartoonish to see Renjun’s eyes illuminating just as he heard the name of his favourite dish. Actually, it was a knowledge Jeno got from Yangyang, and then from Renjun himself when he waxed poetry on it after a few too many drinks that night at the karaoke.

It was no surprise to anyone when the three of them sat at a table in the hot pot restaurant as the sun had set on Seoul.

“Order whatever you want, Renjun,” Jaemin said when the menus were given to them.

The snort that Jeno barely hid was enough to understand that Jaemin didn’t do a great job at sounding casual, and that he said that as he planned to pay for everyone at the end of the dinner. Jaemin didn’t care, puffing his chest while looking through the many options for their hot pot.

Renjun seemed like a connoisseur as he quickly found what he wanted, and Jeno gave up on the menu reading and instead asked for Renjun’s recommendation. Jaemin stared at them from time to time, curious to see how they interacted together. They didn’t know each other for a long time, but they obviously were on their way to good friends.

Jaemin suddenly felt a little out of it; he was the one who proposed to go eat together, to try to charm Renjun enough so he’d have more reasons to find Dreamwork attractive. But in the middle of this hot pot restaurant, still with his suits on, while Renjun and Jeno were conversing about one of Yangyang’s performance at the karaoke, he wondered if it wasn’t a bit silly of him, what he’d said, what he’d done, planned, all around the objective to bother Donghyuck. It was this position he was in regarding Renjun, trying to seem friendly but still being the HR director supposed to hire him if he had the good qualification for the company, that left him suddenly confused, even a little bit ashamed.

Why did he really do all of this? Even Jeno didn’t take him seriously, just humoured him but never really told him that he should stop even if he should have told him that.

Guess Jaemin was too invested in this game with Donghyuck.

“Fate! I’m calling it fate!”

Jaemin raised his head so quickly he almost cracked a bone. Whatever self reassessment he’d been through flew out the window of his brain when Donghyuck’s obnoxious voice cut through the hum of the customers in the restaurant.

“Oh, what a _coincidence_ to see you here,” Renjun said.

With the tone of his voice, it was obvious he didn’t believe in coincidences one bit, but he didn’t seem angry nor bothered either.

Next to Donghyuck stood Yangyang as well, smiling from ear to ear. The waitress that accompanied them into the room to give them a table stayed silent and a bit confused at what she should do, and Donghyuck didn’t bother asking them before saying that they would join the table where Jaemin, Jeno and Renjun were sitting.

The table was usually for four, with Renjun having Jaemin opposite him and Jeno next to him; Donghyuck took an additional chair and sat at the end of the table between Renjun and Jaemin, happy of his place, ignoring the fuming expression of Jaemin. Yangyang happily took the seat in front of Jeno.

“So funny that you wanna try hot pot _tonight_ ,” Jaemin commented.

“Well, it seems that you got the same idea as me, since you’re here as well,” Donghyuck replied with syrup in his voice. He didn’t even touch the menu given to him, right away asking for Renjun’s favourites instead to try them.

Jaemin wanted to know how it happened for Donghyuck to end up there with them, but the answer was probably obvious with Yangyang there; Renjun should have told him and Yangyang probably said it casually in a conversation with Donghyuck and Donghyuck decided to come bother him.

But to hell if Jaemin wouldn’t try to bother him as well.

And so the evening went like this: bickering back and forth between Jaemin and Donghyuck under the almost motherly gaze of Yangyang, Jeno and Renjun. (Amused stares that the two HR directors would be aware of if they weren’t so engrossed in making each other’s evening annoying.)

“We need to turn the hot pot on so it’ll boil,” Renjun announced when the food arrived on the table, looking at Donghyuck who was the one in front of the button.

Before Donghyuck could switch it on, Jaemin slapped his hand away in a swift move without losing his smile and did it.

“We do not want you to exhaust yourself,” he said as a justification.

“Oh, I would have loved to do it though, switching the fire on would be like a metaphor on how I am burning for you, of annoyance of course,” Donghyuck replied.

“Likewise. You got such sweet words for me.”

And when it was time to eat the cooked meat and the vegetables, when Jaemin and Donghyuck got asked by Renjun to _stop feeding me and putting food in my bowl, I am a grown independent adult_ , they tried to play it cool by instead overflowing each other’s plate with too much food.

The three others at the table shared a really amused look.

It felt more like a dinner between friends than something between colleagues. It brought back a few memories from university, too, but not Donghyuck nor Jaemin would say it out loud - it was too embarrassing.

When Renjun pushed the little plate of coriander far away from him with a scowl of disgust, Donghyuck didn’t miss that and instead, took the plate and nudged it toward Jaemin.

“You don’t like coriander?” he asked Renjun.

“How can you like that? Those who say it tastes like soap, you should trust them.”

“So there is one flaw with you in the end,” Jaemin exclaimed, eagerly taking coriander and adding it to the big spoon of rice and meat he’d prepared for himself.

Renjun winced when Jaemin ate everything in one bite.

“Jaemin received this kind of look at university too, each time we would eat with people who dislike coriander,” Donghyuck said before slurping the hot pot broth from his bowl.

When his head appeared again from behind the bowl, Renjun was looking at him with curiosity.

“I remember now that you’ve told me you know Jaemin since university.”

“Well yeah, not a big deal.”

“You used to eat together?” Yangyang eagerly jumped into the conversation.

Donghyuck squirmed on his seat but tried to make it look casual.

“We used to.”

Jaemin stayed silent, focused on adding more sprawn balls into the hot pot for Renjun as he’d said it was his favourite.

“I’m actually curious why you both act like that with each other now when you seemed to be just fine at university,” Renjun said.

A silence almost choked the table but Donghyuck took a sip of water before answering:

“Nothing much, really. Have you seen Jaemin? Plenty to be annoyed about.”

“I could say the same to you,” Jaemin grumbled.

“Honey, you’re just so jealous I did so well at university, and am still doing wonders.”

“Excuse me, have you seen my position now? I have nothing to envy.”

“Yet you’re still finding excuses to prove yourself you’re better as if it scares you that you aren’t.”

“Doesn’t this apply to you though?”

They sent daggers at each other through the stare they exchanged. The hot pot seemed colder and more sour for the both of them, but they wouldn’t acknowledge it.

Jeno called the waitress for a new plate of meat and the sound of his voice snapped back Donghyuck and Jaemin in the restaurant. No one commented on the weird exchanges and Yangyang instead talked about the karaoke night they had a few days before to appease the slight tension that emanated from the HR directors.

When it was time to pay, with no surprise, Jaemin and Donghyuck fought for the bill, and Jeno had to use his threatening voice to calm them down before they made a really embarrassing scene in front of the cashier - and it didn’t happen often that Jeno would have to act like that. The only way they managed to kind of agree was to split the bill between the two of them. And neither of them was happy to have _lost_ , if you could call it lose, but Jeno’s cold face was too scary to argue more.

When the five of them went out of the restaurant, it was already surprisingly late. It was dark outside, with not so many people in the streets as the area was not a residential one, mostly bustling during the day as there were offices and company buildings.

“Thank you so much for inviting us to this restaurant tonight, it is really generous of you,” Renjun bowed and thanked Jaemin as well as Donghyuck.

“I hope you liked it,” Jaemin said.

“I did, hot pot is one of my favourite dishes after all. One good thing that both Dreamwork and Sunvision apparently remember about me, so that’s a good point if you were the ones being interviewed,” Renjun snickered.

“I was the one getting the idea, not Donghyuck, why are you giving him credits for it?” Jaemin whined while Donghyuck smirked.

Jeno rolled his eyes at Jaemin’s childish antics, and that made Yangyang laugh, which he tried to hide behind his hand.

“I’ve used your time plenty already, so I’ll be on my way now.”

“It’s been a pleasure, Renjun,” Jaemin said.

“I’ll see you soon for your last interview in our company,” Donghyuck added and Jaemin shuddered at the overly suave voice Donghyuck used.

Yangyang and Jeno glanced at each other and by a mutual tacit agreement, slided to Renjun’s side.

“We’ll be going as well! Thank you for treating your favourite receptionists for dinner too!” Yangyang exclaimed with enthusiasm before putting his arm over Renjun’s shoulders.

Donghyuck and Jaemin stayed taken aback and a bit dumbfounded, waving goodbye to the three others who walked probably to have free time between themselves without their bosses - or maybe _future_ boss.

Now there was only the both of them on the sidewalk under the street lights.

It reminded Donghyuck of that night when he went to the karaoke to fetch Yangyang, surprised to see Jaemin there as well. While the colors of the lights had been flashy and had given such a weird atmosphere to that late night meeting, tonight it felt softer; still awkward, but there wasn’t this thick blanket of late darkness that would almost drown them.

Maybe it was because of how warm the inside of the restaurant had been. It lingered still in Donghyuck, and when he eyed Jaemin he felt like it lingered there too.

The piercing words they would throw at each other disappeared now that it was calmer, as if the tension dropped like a soufflé now that Renjun wasn’t there. As if they didn’t have a reason to be all about showing a specific persona. Maybe Donghyuck was more tired than he’d thought.

“I guess I’ll be going too,” Jaemin said after a few silent moments.

It was weird because Jaemin seemed to have lost that usual spike for the evening too. Forgotten like an umbrella you forget at a restaurant and only found out later.

“Are you going to take the bus?”

“Yes, what a genius you are.”

It did sound sarcastic but not in a bad way like Jaemin was tired of his remark; more like it was almost soothing to actually reply to such a dumb question when Donghyuck knew that Jaemin didn’t own a car.

“I can give you a ride home,” Donghyuck spurted out.

He didn’t really know why he said that - didn’t want to know what it implied that he’d said that. But the offer was there, and Jaemin didn’t reply right away. Suddenly, Donghyuck felt defenseless, as if he’d missed a step and lost his balance. He was about to deny his offer not to lose face, already scolding himself for slipping like that, when Jaemin replied:

“Actually, that would be nice. Are you still parked at the company building?”

Donghyuck nodded, a little bit breathless.

“Well then, let’s go.”

They walked in silence side by side. The company wasn’t far, but it still felt like time was tricking them. Donghyuck couldn’t help but think of those late nights they would leave the library together and walk in the empty campus to the dormitories, with the same silence that came from how tired they were for studying so much, always competing in their studies, outdoing themselves, but actually never leaving the other alone. As if there was no point in working so hard if the other wasn’t there, to see and compare. As if both their presences were needed to give a meaning to all of this.

Because let’s be honest, it _was_ silly, right? But Donghyuck found that because Jaemin was there, _silly_ became _stimulating_ and _entertaining_ and maybe something else, but he stopped his thoughts there.

They took the stairs to go to the underground parking, and it was still silent when Donghyuck started his car and Jaemin put on his seatbelt.

It was actually weird to be in a confined space with only the two of them; they’ve done it in the past, but now Donghyuck couldn’t help but feel a tension that maybe he was too scared to poke at to examine it better. He should be more actively trying to see what this was all about, just like he did with his job if there was any tension between employees because taking care of the well-being of the people and of a good environment was his job. But apparently he didn’t want to take that step now, out of the office, for something that touched himself directly.

When he dropped off Jaemin in front of his residential building, there it was again, the soft light of a lamppost that slid on the slope of Jaemin’s nose, on his chin, that created a shadow on his cheeks because of how freaking long his eyelashes were even if he didn’t wear any mascara. It was infuriating, but also, it made him look soft. A bit like that Jaemin in his last year of university, tired because of his finals, but still working so much and proud of what he’d achieved and would never stop achieving more.

But Donghyuck liked this Jaemin, the one he had in front of him, too. It was just buried deep, deeper, somewhere that apparently could only be seen under the light of a lamppost late at night.

“Good night, Donghyuck.”

Jaemin waved him goodbye, and Donghyuck only left when Jaemin disappeared behind the entrance door of his building.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_From: Jenono_

did you get back alright yesterday? not too long to wait for the bus?

_From: Nana_

nah it was ok, actually donghyuck drove me back to my flat

_From: Jenono_

SERIOUSLY????

OMG

so you’ve not been murdered by donghyuck under the wheels of his car????

_From: Nana_

i’m alive

_From: Jenono_

oh

hm

that’s all?

_From: Nana_

hide your joy to know i’m still breathing on this earth?

_From: Jenono_

lmao you grumpy

i’m happy i’m happy

anything to keep me updated on?

_From: Nana_

no

_From: Jenono_

well that’s a clear answer

_From: Nana_

well there’s nothing to add

_From: Jenono_

wanna talk about the intense courting yesterday?

_From: Nana_

i didn’t ~court~ renjun wtf

_From: Jenono_

oh

“renjun”

i wasn’t talking about “renjun”

_From: Nana_

?

i don’t know what you’re trying to say by that, but

i know you think i’m silly with all this hiring process and my behaviour with renjun

but have you seen his resume? and his presence?

he’d do wonders at dreamwork

_From: Jenono_

i mean sure, renjun would be a really great asset for the company

but to me it seems like you’re going a little bit too far in trying to make him choose dreamwork over sunvision

i don’t doubt his talents, but it seems like it’s you who need him more than he needs the job

and it’s just to piss donghyuck off

_From: Nana_

it’s not to piss donghyuck off

renjun is a really talented guy and teamed with kun they would do wonders for us on the chinese market

_From: Jenono_

yeah right

as if it wouldn’t do wonders to rile up donghyuck

because maybe a riled up donghyuck is s*xy, right?

_From: Nana_

This message has not been delivered.

_From: Jenono_

don’t use my tactic on me >:(

but i note that you didn’t clearly refute that donghyuck is sexy

_From: Nana_

donghyuck isn’t sexy

he’s annoying

_From: Jenono_

sexy and annoying aren’t mutually exclusive

you know i’d never judge you for your kinks

_From: Nana_

good night jeno

_From: Jenono_

it’s 9 in the morning???

jaemin?

jaemin??

ok i see

:]

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_From: Ten_

do you think donghyuck is alright?

he hasn’t bragged about being ahead of jaemin for days

and today was renjun’s final interview but there was no special tea for him like???

donghyuck couldn’t shut up about this freaking chinese tea the last time and now pouf! it’s gone? nothing?

_From: Yangyang sheep sheep_

he’s been a bit out of it lately yeah

i didn’t want to ask too much though

maybe now that the interviews are over he’ll be better?

you’ve done the debriefing for the final decision together right?

_From: Ten_

yeah, right after the last interview

guess who got the job

_From: Yangyang sheep sheep_

renjun?

_From: Ten_

no

_From: Yangyang sheep sheep_

what???

_From: Ten_

i’m joking, of course it’s renjun

who else would have it been?

donghyuck acted like he went on a crusade for him

it was silly, but at least renjun does have everything we need here so i let him be

_From: Yangyang sheep sheep_

i guess i’ll get to send him an email on behalf of the company to let him know this good news

_From: Ten_

do you know how it’s going with dreamwork?

_From: Yangyang sheep sheep_

obviously, renjun got an offer from them as well, but he has a few days to think about it

now he’ll really have to choose between dreamwork and sunvision

he actually hasn’t told me anything regarding that so i don’t know much

full of secrets, that guy

_From: Ten_

i’m so curious i can’t wait for his final decision!!!

just imagine the tension between jaemin and donghyuck

_From: Yangyang sheep sheep_

we already have it so much

it’ll snap soon omg i can feel it

_From: Ten_

you got the popcorn prepared?

_From: Yangyang sheep sheep_

dude i stacked on them, my drawers are full of packets

i am sO READY

i open one drawer, bam, happiness: nail polishes and popcorn

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It was a sunny afternoon, not a late evening, and Donghyuck wasn’t in a suit he would usually have for work, but in plain jeans and a tee-shirt, messy hair hidden with a black bucket hat.

For once, he was far from work and from Sunvision, and that wasn’t often. But after so many weeks working on the hiring process, and with that floating period while being on stand-by waiting for Renjun’s decision, Donghyuck took an afternoon off and went out to go shopping in the colorful busy streets of Seoul.

However, it seemed like reminders of work would never really leave him alone, because while looking at some shop windows, someone calling his name made him raise his head, to find Renjun a few meters away from him.

“Wow, are you stalking me now so you can brag about how Sunvision is a hundred times better than Dreamwork?” Renjun laughed, reaching Donghyuck who was still surprised to meet him there.

“You’re the one who actually saw me,” Donghyuck replied.

“Well, funny coincidence.”

“I’d say it’s fate and that you’re really linked to Sunvision, aren’t you?”

That made Renjun laugh.

“Are you busy? I was about to take a coffee, you can join me if you want,” Renjun said, pointing at a café near them.

As Donghyuck was beginning to just go in circles in the area, he accepted Renjun’s offer, and they ended up sitting at a table with a macchiato and a jasmine tea.

If he thought about it more, it was a bit weird to be here with Renjun, someone he wasn’t really close to. They both were friends of Yangyang, but the most they talked was during the interviews, and that was with him in his HR director role. The frontiers were blurred, but they probably had been blurred since the moment Donghyuck decided to go out of his way with Renjun’s application because Jaemin had expressed interest in it as well.

And as Donghyuck was a bit lost for what kind of conversation topic they could have, he went with the easy way.

“I know the setting is kind of informal, but have you decided yet, regarding Sunvision’s offer?”

“I might say I’ve actually been quite entertained with your perseverance, as well as Jaemin’s, for you both to always try to step on each other to reach me.”

“That doesn’t answer the question,” Donghyuck mumbled, and that made Renjun laugh.

With the obvious amused glint in his eyes, Donghyuck knew that Renjun wasn’t much impressed. And he should have noticed it before, that Renjun wasn’t the type of guy to actually care that much for the extra things he’d tried to do out of the interviews themselves. He was lucid and it wasn’t a cup of jasmine tea that would make him weaver and long for Sunvision more.

“A bit disturbing that I am the excuse you use to have your weird flirting rituals with Jaemin, but hey, not kink shaming,” Renjun casually commented.

Donghyuck choked on his sip of coffee. When he found his normal breath again, Renjun was looking at him with a deadpan stare.

“If you think you will deny that now, there is no use.”

“Is that how you talk to your future HR director?” Donghyuck tried to get back on his feet quickly.

Renjun smirked, “who said that I would go for sure to Sunvision, now?”

“You are going to choose Dreamwork?” Donghyuck asked so quickly he didn’t manage to sound unaffected at all. He didn’t want Jaemin to win.

“Didn’t say that either,” Renjun sing-sang in a cryptic way, sipping his jasmine tea without choking on it unlike Donghyuck with his macchiato.

Donghyuck almost forgot the comment Renjun made about him and Jaemin, but it actually slapped him in the face again without a warning.

He wasn’t certain he wanted to feel this vulnerable in front of Renjun, as he didn’t even allow himself to be honest all the time, because he had no idea how to manage it. The right solution would be to talk it out with Jaemin like mature adults, but they’d engrossed themselves in a chemistry based on riling each other up, and once the machine had been switched on it had been hard to stop it.

“Seriously though, what’s up between you and Jaemin?” Renjun asked, and the teasing tone had disappeared. More like genuine curiosity, but that didn’t want to feel intruding if Donghyuck didn’t want to share this part of his life with him.

Donghyuck gulped.

“Nothing that serious. Old rivalries die hard, you know what they say.”

“Only rivalries about grades, or about something else?”

Donghyuck took a sip of his macchiato.

Renjun hummed.

“Hey, I know I will sound like a generic bot, but you know that hate isn’t the opposite of love, but indifference more likely is?”

“... what?”

“I just wanted to use this sentence out loud once in my life, it feels like I’m a key character in a movie.”

Donghyuck nodded just to go along with whatever that was. Renjun obviously understood that Donghyuck wouldn’t say more on the topic, so he switched it and talked about someone else they had in common, which was Yangyang.

Talking about his collection of nail polishes for sure was easier, and surprisingly made time fly by.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The email arrived in Donghyuck’s box in the last hour of his workday, when he thought he would have a relatively calm evening.

The subject of the email was in bold letters, because Donghyuck had still not clicked on it to discover the inside of it. The subject only read **_RE: Offer of employment [international sales department]_ **.

Donghyuck felt a bit silly to feel almost anxious to open the email and know Renjun’s final decision. If Renjun declined the offer, it wasn’t only a question of not having such an ace in their employees for the company’s reputation. It dealt a lot more with having to lose against Jaemin. It always came back to this.

And it had been like this before as well; be it healthy or not, Donghyuck had always felt the need to challenge himself and challenge Jaemin. It had brought him many boosts to work harder, to have another goal than just getting this piece of paper at the end of university. Competing with Jaemin was fun because Jaemin was as clever and hardworking as him, and the thrill of their several dares made Donghyuck happy, even if it sounded weird. Donghyuck liked it because it was with Jaemin.

But at some point their competitiveness was applied in another context than the academic one, and for sure that was where everything kinda went to hell. When Donghyuck found Jaemin’s presence a good stimulation, Jaemin a good friend, having to compete for something else soured their special friendship and here they were, years later, grown ass adults but still childish in a way.

This time, Donghyuck wanted to win against Jaemin, he wanted to win this silly competition that Renjun didn’t ask for.

Donghyuck clicked on the email and held his breath.

_Mr Lee Donghyuck,_

_I wanted to firstly express my gratitude for the time you accorded me during the two interviews I passed at Sunvision company. It has been a really enriching experience._

_I will, however, not be accepting the position you offered me in the international sales department._ _I would, again, like to express my gratitude for the offer and my regrets that it did not work out._

_You have my best wishes in finding a suitable candidate for the position._

_Best regards,_

_Huang Renjun_

Donghyuck stayed still in front of his computer. He read the email once again, and then another. Each time there were these words - _I will, however, not be accepting the position_ \- it felt like a mockery, like a defeat.

Donghyuck’s disbelief evolved into anger. It bubbled in his stomach then took his throat and wanted to escape through his mouth as loud as he could. That felt silly to feel so strongly to be rejected like that. It brought back some memories that he thought he was over with, but the reality was that he’d never really forgotten. It was even more ridiculous that it wasn’t like it was a personal matter; Renjun just turned down the company’s offer. Donghyuck was just a representative of Sunvision.

So Renjun had accepted Dreamwork’s offer instead of Sunvision’s. Donghyuck wondered what made him decide this in the end. What did Dreamwork have that was so different from Sunvision?

And once again, even if it wasn’t a personal matter, even if Dreamwork was a company and Jaemin was just an employee there, Donghyuck felt like it was all Jaemin’s fault; he felt something he couldn’t quite describe, this amalgam, this confusion between jealousy, anger, hopelessness. It infuriated him so much that in the end it was Dreamwork that got the first place, that price that was Renjun accepting the job offer.

“Yangyang!” Donghyuck shouted, and it was loud enough to be heard from outside his office, because Yangyang entered the room carefully a dozen of seconds after.

“D-Donghyuck? What’s up?”

Donghyuck beckoned him to his desk, and instead of explaining himself, he showed him the screen with a harsh move of his hand. Yangyang took a few seconds to read Renjun’s email, and Donghyuck knew when he reached the sentence stating his rejection, because his eyes widened.

“Did you know?” he asked.

“No! Renjun didn’t tell me anything about his decision,” Yangyang scurried to say.

Donghyuck took off his glasses, still upset.

“Freaking Jaemin.”

Yangyang wasn’t sure how to react. He wasn’t expecting Donghyuck to seem so upset because of Renjun’s decision. It had been a game, this kind of competitiveness. Yangyang thought Donghyuck would be annoyed and whiny like a kid if it happened that Renjun didn’t choose Sunvision, but seeing him right now, it seemed more than that. It wasn’t a question of having a new employee anymore; it was something between Donghyuck and Jaemin that they couldn’t really understand.

Yangyang didn’t know Donghyuck in university, but there must be something linked to that time that made them who they were today. And it was probably something that still upset Donghyuck. Be it justified or not.

“We still have a few applicants that impressed you though, so we’ll have a new employee that is also really talented for Sunvision,” Yangyang tried to divert the conversation.

“It doesn’t matter, if Renjun ends up working at Dreamwork!”

Yangyang bit his lips, ready to remind Donghyuck that it wasn’t the end of the world, that it didn’t really matter in the end, but in this state Donghyuck wasn’t really able to be perceptive. He was like a child throwing a tantrum, and it was better he left him alone to calm down and think of the situation by himself. Maybe it was funny at first, but Yangyang also wanted Donghyuck to see the situation further than the challenge he had with Jaemin.

“I’ll schedule a meeting with Ten tomorrow so you can think of who you want to hire instead,” Yangyang said in the end.

Donghyuck nodded, barely focused, but Yangyang let him be and left the office.

When he was alone once again, Donghyuck didn’t even reply to the email out of spite and closed the website. He looked at the pile of files he wanted to work on the next day, but he thought that it would maybe calm him down if he concentrated on more work right now, even if it meant he would leave the company at a late hour after everyone.

And so that was what he did.

  
  
  
  
  
  


“ _I wanted to firstly express my gratitude for the time you accorded me during the two interviews I passed at Dreamwork company. It has been a really enriching experience. I will, however, not be accepting the position you offered me in the international sales department._ ”

Jeno looked at Jaemin, who was unable to stay still and endlessly walking back and forth in front of the reception desk with his phone in his hand, where Renjun’s email was open. Renjun’s rejection email.

Obviously, it didn’t please Jaemin at all that Renjun had declined Dreamwork’s job offer. Even more since it logically meant that Renjun had accepted Sunvision’s one.

Jaemin took his breath again to read for the umpteenth time the rejection, but Jeno stopped him before he could.

“I think we all understood that Renjun won’t be our colleague here.”

“Worse! He’ll be at Sunvision and I’ll have to see Donghyuck mocking me every freaking day every time Renjun will take the elevator in the morning to join their company.”

“That’s all you’re focusing on? Donghyuck mocking you?”

Jaemin didn’t reply, but it was obvious he was upset.

Jeno sighed and furrowed his eyebrows, a little bit worried.

“Hey, Jaemin, I wondered if…”

Jaemin looked at him, arms crossed over his chest like he wanted to protect himself.

“I know we’ve been really joking around about you and Donghyuck, but. I wanted to know how it’s going on between you two? Like, seriously.”

Jaemin straightened up, clearly not comfortable.

“There’s nothing to say.”

“With the way you both took this hiring process so seriously, moreover since you both wanted to hire Renjun, I couldn’t help but think of that time in uni when you and Donghyuck both liked M-”

“It has nothing to do with it.”

Jaemin’s reply was cold. Jeno was however not a fool.

“Listen,” Jeno interjected, “I didn’t say anything all these years ago because it wasn’t my story nor was it my friendship. I let you act the way you wanted to act with Donghyuck even if it felt a bit exaggerated for the situation. I knew you liked Mark and that it felt like a betrayal that Donghyuck liked him as well, but the little war you got going on between you two for Mark’s attention didn’t end up in the best of way and destroyed your friendship.”

Jaemin was actually so taken aback Jeno dared to talk about this topic that he couldn’t find anything to fight back. After all, Jeno was right.

(It’d been so long Jaemin heard Mark’s name from someone else’s mouth. He didn’t even really recall memories with Mark in them. It had been a crush at university, but a crush that Donghyuck felt too. And that was where competitiveness in studies became competitiveness in relationships as well. Not that it led anywhere, because Mark didn’t like any of them and in the end got a boyfriend from another faculty despite how flirty both Donghyuck and Jaemin had been out of spite to prove something to each other.

An anecdote that shouldn’t have consequences anymore yet here they were.)

“I still don’t understand why the both of you kept being upset at each other even after Mark told you two that he liked someone else. With the way you acted, and are actually still acting, it’s like it’s Donghyuck who rejected your love and you are still holding it against him. Same for Donghyuck with you. Why do you act like it happened like that when it didn’t?”

Jaemin actually didn’t have an answer for this.

Maybe it didn’t really need an answer. Maybe it only needed honesty. And honesty meant to be honest with Donghyuck, and with what he felt for him.

“Maybe it wasn’t really Mark that you had a crush on, even at that time,” Jeno concluded, with a softer tone.

And maybe it was as simple as that and Jaemin and Donghyuck had complicated something for the funniest and the worst. But in the end, it was just a bit pathetic, that they couldn’t say out loud what they truly felt.

“I’ll go take care of finding who we will hire instead of Renjun,” Jaemin ended up saying in the silence that took over them.

He left for his office and closed the door behind him, leaving a sighing Jeno that wondered if his friend would stop complicating his life soon.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_From: Yangyang_

congrats on getting renjun in your company

_From: Jeno_

?

i was about to send you the same message wtf

_From: Yangyang_

oh now you’re using irony too??

_From: Jeno_

what

_From: Yangyang_

what

_From: Jeno_

why aren’t we hearing donghyuck screaming his joy and pride because renjun accepted sunvision’s offer?

_From: Yangyang_

are you kidding?

why aren’t we hearing ~jaemin~ since renjun chose dreamwork?

_From: Jeno_

he didn’t tho

didn’t donghyuck get an email from renjun accepting the job?

because jaemin got a rejection email

so i thought…

_From: Yangyang_

oh my god

renjun didn’t accept dreamwork’s offer?

_From: Jeno_

that’s what i’m trying to say yes

_From: Yangyang_

he didn’t accept sunvision’s either!!!

_From: Jeno_

???

omg

does that mean he really rejected both jaemin and donghyuck?

bro that ENERGY

_From: Yangyang_

renjun has been going to many interviews, not only ours

but our dear hr directors might have forgotten that detail

omg i didn’t know renjun would do this move

_From: Jeno_

wait

so jaemin and donghyuck actually don’t know the truth

each thinks they lost to the other

when in reality they both lost

_From: Yangyang_

let’s not tell them

donghyuck has been a bit infuriating lately and he needs to brew

and clearly they need to talk it out, with jaemin

this rivalry to get renjun shows something else

_From: Jeno_

i tried to talk about it with jaemin

but he’s been really stubborn

during uni, they weren’t like this at first, you know?

but stuff happened so

it’s time they really talk about their ~feelings~

_From: Yangyang_

istg those babies

how could we force them to talk?

_From: Jeno_

getting them both in a room and locking them in lol

_From: Yangyang_

lol

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


(And actually they weren’t too far from what happened later in the evening.)

At this point, no one would be surprised to know that both Jaemin and Donghyuck threw themselves into work to try to avoid other matters - read, accepting they lost.

As they decided to, neither Jeno nor Yangyang told the truth about Renjun’s decision and they left work at the usual time, knowing that the two others would stay late, probably the last ones to leave the building.

Here was what happened:

By a really lucky (depending on what you think) turn of fate, Jaemin and Donghyuck decided to call it a day at the same time, and still while brewing their defeat, they ended up in the lobby together. Yangyang would have whipped a tear off his cheek if he’d assisted to the fated timing.

When Donghyuck closed the door of Sunvision and raised his head, he met Jaemin’s stare. Jaemin was waiting for the elevator, his phone in his hand, and it was obvious he wasn’t expecting to see Donghyuck there as well. Both of them had their lips closed tight, not even in the mood to talk, because why would they give a reason for the other to brag?

When the elevator doors opened, Jaemin entered the cubicle, but Donghyuck didn’t want to look affected and he followed him as well. The silence between them was tense, more tense than usual.

Out of habit, Jaemin pressed the ground floor button as well as the underground parking lot one.

The doors closed swiftly; Donghyuck already thought that this elevator ride would be the longest he’d ever felt and wasn’t really looking forward to it, even more if Jaemin opened his mouth to begin shit.

He didn’t want to take care of this, neither of his thoughts. He wanted to keep the façade up for a little bit more, because honesty was exhausting, and being in the position of loser was already a harsh blow to accept for him.

Why wasn’t Jaemin opening his damn pretty mouth to mock him?

Not that he wanted to, but it wasn’t really logical he wasn’t bragging about his victory - Renjun chose Dreamwork, didn’t he?

Then the elevator made a weird noise and it stopped and Jaemin stumbled; by reflex, Donghyuck gripped his elbow to help him get back on his feet, but he let go of him rather quickly.

The elevator became silent, as silent as Jaemin and Donghyuck. Silent to the point it was obvious that in fact, it just got stuck in its way down. Awkwardly staying still between two floors, just like Jaemin and Donghyuck were awkwardly staying still inside, just like they were both awkward in a weird relationship that wasn’t clear because they lacked honesty.

Donghyuck couldn’t believe he was actually stuck in an elevator with Jaemin when he wanted to be everywhere but in his presence.

There were these weird seconds where no one moved, as if the elevator would cough and then work again, like a bad joke. But it didn’t, and at some point it was obvious that they needed to do _something_.

“Just my luck,” Donghyuck heard Jaemin say under his breath, and he wanted to reply that the situation was worse for him so why was he even complaining, huh?

Donghyuck, who was closer to the buttons, forcefully pressed the emergency one several times as if it would make the call quicker. He knew there was no point but that was to compensate for his brewing anger. The interphone crackled and a voice resonated in the elevator.

“Hi, good evening, the elevator has stopped between the floors five and four. The lights are still on though, we don’t know what’s going on,” Donghyuck automatically explained to make it quick.

_“How many of you is there inside?”_

“We are two.”

_“We’re looking right now what’s the problem and we are sending people over. Will you be alright?”_

“I mean, yes. Thank you.”

_“If anyone doesn’t feel good, please contact us again. We’ll be as quick as possible.”_

The faint crackle stopped when the line cut, and Jaemin and Donghyuck were standing in silence again.

Not for too long though.

“I guess you will have more time to brag now, just like you like to do all the time.”

Donghyuck turned toward Jaemin, who was leaning against one of the walls, arms crossed over his chest. Jaemin looked tired, his shirt a little bit in disarray probably because of the extra hours of work he’d done to leave the company so late. Donghyuck thought he might actually be in the same state.

“You really have to humiliate me right now like this?”

Jaemin furrowed his eyebrows, as if confused because of Donghyuck’s reaction.

“Well, didn’t you wait for this moment since we both began our hiring process?”

“Haha, so funny, Jaemin.”

As if he’d been waiting for this moment of him losing against him.

“Well, I don’t know, don’t you want to say _I told you so_ ? _Look at how better than you I am_?” Jaemin continued, a bit on edge, and that actually worsened Donghyuck’s mood.

“Your way of celebrating your victory is actually quite mean, if I can comment on it,” he spat out. “If you’re proud of yourself, just say it already, instead of making me feel like shit. I get that we always rile each other up but I think this one is too inappropriate.”

“Wait, what do you mean?”

Donghyuck looked at Jaemin again; he looked puzzled with this hint of annoyance that seemed to be always there if they were in the same space.

“What do I mean? Jaemin, we both know that Renjun accepted your offer at Dreamwork instead of mine, so now quit this attempt at false modesty, tell to my face that you’re glad you’ve won, and let’s wait for this freaking elevator to work again so maybe I can stop seeing your face.”

“Wait, what?”

Donghyuck had enough.

“Jaemin, for fuck’s sake!”

“Hey, why are you getting angry like that! Renjun didn’t accept Dreamwork’s offer, where did you get this fake information from? I got an email from him declining my offer. He accepted Sunvision, right? That’s such a low move to say this shit, what the fuck!”

“Renjun sent _me_ an email rejecting Sunvision’s offer, what are you saying!”

Their words resonated inside the now silent and motionless elevator. And when they actually processed each other’s words despite how upset they were, the reality caught them up, and it left them speechless. Clearly dumbfounded, almost ashamed.

Renjun rejected both their job offers.

They actually, surprisingly, never thought of this possible outcome. For them, there would always be a winner between the two.

(It both strangely reminded them of university, of both trying to flirt with Mark and hating each other in the process, and Mark not choosing either of them. The two time period overlapped, the irony of it all repeating itself, trying to show them something. Maybe it was time to understand what it meant instead of closing their eyes on what was going on between them.)

Wow, damn, Renjun _did_ reject both their job offers.

And then it slapped Donghyuck. The fact that Renjun never took part in their childish shenanigans, at least that he never found it serious at all. Renjun prepared himself for the interviews with the professionalism that both Jaemin and Donghyuck lacked during the whole hiring process. He didn’t take advantage of the fact that they were playing over his job opportunities and would favor him no matter what, he’d been delightful, intelligent and witty during the actual interviews, and proved that he was serious.

All while Jaemin and Donghyuck were bickering like children in love thinking bothering the other would be a solution.

Donghyuck never even thought one second of the other companies Renjun could have applied at. And he should have, because Yangyang had told him Renjun was in the process of finding a new job, and of course he’d look for as many companies as possible. With his skills, he could get all of them if he wanted, and Sunvision and Dreamwork were good, but they were start-ups and there was better out there. Donghyuck couldn’t even feel mad at him.

However, he still felt this weird tension toward Jaemin. Since Renjun both rejected them, they both lost and no one had the upper hand. But it also meant that there wasn’t anything left to have an excuse to be mad at each other and continue this feud going on for way too long.

Their argument could have deflated just like that, but it would have been almost ridiculous. All these weeks of competing to settle for _this_? It felt too sour on Donghyuck’s tongue, and he couldn’t help his mouth.

“Great, now none of us got Renjun in our companies! You must have made him change his mind and find us not professional at all, playing casual and friendly and inviting him for dinner!”

“Excuse me?! Didn’t you make Yangyang go get tea especially for Renjun, as if that isn’t totally unfair toward the other applicants? Wow, what an unbiased HR director you were!”

“See who’s talking?”

It seemed like it was a ritual for them to not make actual sense and to do so with fervor.

Their exchange became rather hectic, raising their voice and becoming slightly disheveled with the way they passed their hands in their hair in frustration. The cubicle was becoming stuffy and a bit too small for the argument, increasing the tension.

“And you even had Yangyang by your side, literally Renjun’s best friend, you had more chances than me!” Jaemin exclaimed, angrily rubbing his nape, tilting his head on the side and huffing the words out, displaying how lean and sharp his neck was.

“Oh my god! Stop being so _pretty_!”

Donghyuck froze.

The cubicle abruptly became silent, and it felt like his last word resonated against the four walls - _pretty, pretty, pretty_. Jaemin was suddenly speechless because of his confusion, his eyebrows high on his forehead.

After a few seconds of this awkward moment, Donghyuck snapped back from his frozen state and stumbled on his words to make it look like he wasn’t enamoured with Jaemin when he was angry - to make it look like he wasn’t enamoured with Jaemin no matter what, and that he had no idea how to properly tell him so when all they’d been good at these past few years was to annoy each other like children.

“ _Petty_! I meant to say petty! Stop being so petty, not pretty!”

Donghyuck could feel his face becoming alarmingly warm, and he didn’t want to check in the mirror that he was indeed redder by the seconds. In front of him, Jaemin’s expression changed slowly, going from confusion to something else that Donghyuck didn’t like.

It looked like endearment, and if Jaemin looked like that while staring at him, how was Donghyuck supposed to act? Jaemin was in fact very pretty, if not literally stunning, and Jaemin knew that about himself and Donghyuck knew it too, but Jaemin didn’t need to know that Donghyuck had spent months trying not to go jelly in the knees because of how his eyelashes would flutter against his cheeks, how sweet his smile was to everyone; he’d tried really hard to conceal it behind work and words, and it seemed like it had worked, until now.

“Are you sure you meant petty?” Jaemin susurrated.

Donghyuck’s first instinct was to fight back like he’d always done.

“You are the worst when it comes to pettiness.”

Jaemin raised an eyebrow - freaking sexy, that motherfucker - and took a step toward Donghyuck. The elevator was already small to begin with, it didn’t help making it feel bigger if Jaemin had in mind to corner Donghyuck.

“Am I the worst when it comes to prettiness too?” Jaemin replied.

“The worst ever,” Donghyuck gulped, and he took a step backward.

He bumped his back against the cold mirror on the elevator wall, but he straightened up to still feel like he could deal with the situation. However, his confidence on that kinda crumpled when he stared right at Jaemin. Their eyes were locked and it was hard to look away. Jaemin was so close to him but wasn’t moving, clearly liking how everything was going.

Donghyuck would actually not say it out loud for now, but he liked it too. Because he felt tired of pushing away. Sure, he liked his job and thrived by excelling at it, but he probably needed another kind of thrive.

“Aren’t I pretty though, Donghyuck? I actually think I am,” Jaemin said.

Fuck. _Fuck_.

Jaemin took a step toward Donghyuck. He knew what he was doing. His smile was little but really sweet, like a cat who knew he would finally get what he wanted. He fluttered his eyelashes, leaning forward, making his jawline twitch a little bit and Donghyuck couldn’t look away.

The distance between the two of them was already short, it became almost non-existent after another step from Jaemin. If Donghyuck opened his mouth to actually reply, his lips would caress Jaemin’s cheek. It was hard to breathe and hard to focus on Jaemin’s stare, but it was thrilling. It felt even better than the usual thrill he had when they would argue together, and Donghyuck asked himself why they didn’t think of actually doing that sooner - and then realized that if they were so intense each time, it wouldn’t be appropriate for work, unlike competitive battle of words regarding their achievements.

Wow, Donghyuck really wanted Jaemin to kiss him.

“You could be prettier,” Donghyuck finally managed to say.

His lips barely touched Jaemin’s skin and it tingled already. Donghyuck had his hands tensely closed, but he wanted to put his arms around Jaemin’s neck and say fuck it to the few millimeters separating them.

“How can I become prettier, then?” Jaemin asked, and his voice had dropped several octaves and Donghyuck might just pass out in this broken elevator.

Maybe it was finally time to be honest.

“By kissing me.”

Donghyuck wanted to add _because you can never manage to be the best version of yourself without me_ , but his brain to mouth filter literally crashed the moment Jaemin pressed his lips on Donghyuck’s.

The kiss felt long overdue, it felt a bit desperate; Jaemin’s lips were chapped against Donghyuck’s smoother lips, and if Donghyuck still had a few working braincells he would grumble that Jaemin needed to buy chapstick for fuck’s sake, but if he actually said a word instead of enjoying the feeling of Jaemin’s lips on his, he would kill himself.

Jaemin pressed Donghyuck against the cubicle wall and it felt good, to have Jaemin in his space, to have his chest against his; they had closed their eyes and only focused on kissing and slotting their mouths together and teasing their sensitive lips with their tongue. They were hungry, and after years of never doing it you could understand why.

Donghyuck’s hands ended up in Jaemin’s hair, just like he wanted, ruffling the strands in disarray, feeling them silky against his fingers, slightly tugging at them when Jaemin would bit on his lower lips then soothe it with the tip of his tongue. Jaemin whimpered and Donghyuck did the same, and they became a bit more desperate, a bit more lost in each other.

They actually didn’t know for how long they kissed like that, but when they separated to breathe again, Donghyuck’s heart went on a second roller coaster and his knees almost gave up.

He wasn’t joking when he said that Jaemin would look prettier kissing him.

In front of him, Jaemin was flushed red, his lips shiny and puffy; his eyes were slightly glossy and were looking at him like he couldn’t quite believe it. The collar of his shirt looked crumpled, and if Donghyuck didn’t stop himself he would worship the collarbone picking out of it.

Jaemin looked hot, and Donghyuck did that.

“I think that for once you are right,” Jaemin breathed out, and then he laughed and Donghyuck realized he loved this sound a lot more than previously.

Donghyuck still had his arms around Jaemin’s shoulder, and he patted the mess he’d made with his hair, not quite making a good job but it was also an excuse to keep touching him.

“Na Jaemin acknowledged my words, that’s a day to remember.”

“You will only remember today for that fact?”

The comment wanted to sound light, but Donghyuck heard the hint of insecurity.

“I think it’s obvious that I will remember it for something else, too.”

“And what is it?”

Jaemin fluttered his eyelashes and maybe Donghyuck had too much of a thing for it.

“I’m not saying it out loud.”

“Oh, so Lee Donghyuck is shy now?”

Jaemin pressed against Donghyuck’s chest again with a huge smile. Donghyuck liked him right there. It was a bit surreal to think that they were in this position, when all he’d been all afternoon was upset and defeated and mad.

“And if you just whisper it like that instead?” Jaemin murmured in Donghyuck’s ear, his mouth teasing the skin of his jawline, the drop of his voice making Donghyuck shiver once again. At this rate, he could actually go insane.

“I-” Donghyuck said.

The interphone sputtered and the elevator made a loud sound at the exact same time. It completely took by surprise the both of them and they startled, putting more distance between each other, but still extremely red in the cheeks.

_“Hello? Do you hear me?”_

“Yes! Yes, we can hear you!” Donghyuck scurried toward the interphone to actually answer.

_“The elevator will go down soon, the problem has been taken care of. I hope you’re alright.”_

“Never been better,” Jaemin replied, putting his head on Donghyuck’s shoulder to get close to the board as well.

Donghyuck’s heart pounded against his chest. He felt lighter. It was weird to get accustomed to but - he wasn’t complaining.

“Thank you for your help,” Donghyuck said.

_“It’s our job. Despite the inconvenience, I still wish you a good evening.”_

“To you too!”

When the call ended, Donghyuck awkwardly stayed still, and Jaemin moved his head from his shoulders. The elevator made a sound again, and then it obviously went down, with the numbers finally changing. Donghyuck looked at it like in a daze, and then looked back at Jaemin when he nudged his hand with his head tilted on the side, as if he wanted to tell him something. He was worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.

The doors opened on the ground floor, and they both looked at the technician waiting there. Going back to reality felt weird, because what happened between the sixth floor and this floor was quite a huge unexpected thing.

They greeted the technician and let him do his check work, walking away from the elevator into the building lobby. It was already dark outside, later than what they intended. Donghyuck eyed the door leading to the stairs to go down one more floor to the underground parking lot, while Jaemin didn’t look so keen on finding out how cold it was in the streets.

A little bit of tension was back between them; it had evolved, but Donghyuck this time had no intention to ignore it.

He took a big breath like a big boy, and then he told Jaemin:

“Should I give you a ride tonight?”

Jaemin’s eyes widened, but then he smiled almost shyly, dust of pink on the apple of his cheeks.

And then his stare became sharper and his smile changed into a smirk.

“What kind of _ride_ , Donghyuck?” he said with an overly sweet voice.

Donghyuck choked on nothing, suddenly crimson, and that made Jaemin laugh loudly.

“Well, to find out you’ll have to accept my suggestion.”

“It’s a deal, then. Lead the way?”

Jaemin presented his hand to Donghyuck, and Donghyuck took it in his.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_From: Yangyang_

JENP

JENAP

JENOO

JENO THIS IS AN EMERMGECNY

_From: Jeno_

how do you pronounce emermgecny

_From: Yangyang_

BOY NOT THE TIME

JAEMIN AND DONGHYUCK ARRIVED TOGETHER THIS MORNING

IN /DONGHYUCKS CAR/

_From: Jeno_

WHAT???

THEY CHOOSE TO PUT THAT SHIT UP ON THE DAY OF MY MORNING OFF???

_From: Yangyang_

OH MY GOD THEY ARE MAKING HEART EYES AT EACH OTHER IN THE LOBBY

MARTY I’M SCARED

THIS SHIT IS FRIGHTENING

_From: Jeno_

oh my god these bitches gay

good for them! good for them!

_From: Yangyang_

what happened yesterday after we left!!!!!! i’m so curious!!!!

when i arrived this morning, i heard from the janitors that the elevator was down yesterday evening late when people were in it??

_From: Jeno_

do you think that

_From: Yangyang_

we knew donghyuck and jaemin were going to leave late yesterday,,,,,

what if,,,,,

dude i told you what happens in the elevators is crucial for gossiping

i will annoy the shit out of donghyuck to know what happened

_From: Jeno_

if it’s something nasty don’t tell me the details

i don’t want to think of what they could have done in this elevator while it was down

but also, the improvement? donghyuck and jaemin not at each other’s throat anymore?

~acknowledging their pounding heart~ ?

we stan

_From: Yangyang_

they aren’t children anymore /whips a tear away

with the way they linger in the lobby for forever, i think i have time to do a fancy manicure today

_From: Jeno_

go for it!

_From: Yangyang_

i love our hr directors

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


~.~

“Hm, Renjun, I think the company you’re actually working for is at the other end of town and not at the sixth floor of this building.”

“Oh, I know.”

Renjun was casually leaning against Jeno’s reception desk, with a little smile on his face. He was wearing a suit, but had ditched the necktie. If the whole floor didn’t know what went on about him, he could be mistaken for an employee.

“I appreciate your presence, but you’ve only been looking around like a really content man without asking me anything. Weren’t you looking for Yangyang, or something?”

“I didn’t come for Yangyang, and even if I did, why would I be there instead of Sunvision?”

“I don’t know,” Jeno mumbled, going back to his emails, ignoring Renjun since he didn’t want to tell him the reason for his visit.

The answer actually arrived a few minutes later in the form of the applicant who got hired after Renjun declined Dreamwork’s offer.

“Shotaro! Hi!” Renjun exclaimed.

Shotaro was surprised for a second before he smiled almost shyly.

“Hi, Renjun. How are you?”

“Good, good. I was wondering if it was your lunch break right now?”

Shotaro tilted his head to the side, and then nodded.

“That’s perfect! Do you want to have lunch with me?” Renjun continued.

In the background, Jeno’s jaw almost touched the floor. In his pocket, his phone was vibrating badly, attacked by tons of messages from Yangyang who could see through the glass walls how Renjun was literally glued to Shotaro - and how Shotaro didn’t seem to mind at all.

“Let me go get my bag and we’ll go together,” Shotaro said, and Renjun nodded.

Once Shotaro was gone to his desk, Renjun turned proudly and smiled at Jeno.

“What the fuck was that?” Jeno asked.

“I got to get to know Shotaro while waiting for the interviews, and I really like him, so I’m making my move and getting that bread. Unlike some HR directors around here who took years, but I’m not thinking of anyone by using this example, of course.”

“Of course.”

“Where are they, by the way?”

“Oh boy, I don’t think you want to know, and as much as I like to gossip around, I’ve had enough with Jaemin and Donghyuck’s shenanigans, I swear.”

“Well, maybe you will find other people to quench your curiosity in private matters.”

“Oooh don’t worry, I think Yangyang and I will never get bored in here.”

“I’m ready, Renjun. Should we go?” Shotaro said, his bag in hand and a smile on his face.

“Let’s go,” Renjun looked at him like he wanted to kiss him sweetly, and that was actually a really soft view.

Jeno looked at them exiting the company, with Renjun putting a careful and warm hand on Shotaro’s lower back while they were waiting for the elevator to open its door in the lobby.

When Jeno finally checked his phone, the last message he got was, without any surprise, from Yangyang.

_From: Yang Sheep_

SCREAMING

**Author's Note:**

> *coming back after reveals* hey yeah it's me!
> 
> i wanted to have my try at nahyuck and office au for a long time, and when i found this prompt in the 00ff archive i thought it was fate~ i hope you liked reading it! it took a lot of energy for me to finish it, between my moving out, job and health, but i did it!
> 
> fun fact, it's also the 3rd (THIRD) longest nct ff i've written so far! isn't it crazy! haha
> 
> don't hesitate to leave kudos and comments! and to read the other ffs in the 00ficfest!! stay safe and healthy :*
> 
> [my twitter](https://twitter.com/_renjunbaobei) \+ [cc](https://curiouscat.me/jeolmeoniji)


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